Rainer is a successful doctor and father of two. He's a celebrated member of the community for his exceptional care and charity work. Brick is a local street thug that can't keep his nose clean. When fate brings the two together through tragedy, the life of Rainer is changed dramatically, setting into motion events that change communities.

Glenn is a seasoned cop and Rainer's younger brother. Trusting the justice system, he keeps his desire for revenge in check as Brick is brought to trial. But when the jury hands Brick a lean sentence, Glenn sets out to avenge his family's suffering. But what he forgets in his rage is that for every action, there is a reaction.

Andrea's Review:

Never has a single title of a book expressed so much. I was immediately drawn into a world unlike any I have known. Lines are drawn, but not just by income and status but by pride and commitment.

You Killed My Brother is a roller coaster of a ride. An underlying theme of brotherhood told from multiple perspectives, this is a complicated and enthralling thriller. I found myself shocked at the hatred and anger so easily conveyed through words. The storytelling of Keith Rommel is complicated but in the simplest of ways.

He shows us the natural bond that brothers Rainer and Glenn Bebout share. He expresses how individuals lost and lonely in the world can come together and form a bond that is equally as natural to them as those that share blood. It is through this complicated story telling we find that sometimes the lost and lonely turn those emotions to hatred and hurt. Hatred and hurt can come in so many forms -- through words, lack of touch, lack of sympathy, violence and even death.

While this story begins with a single action. A single moment in a day. The chain of events that single event sets off is one that leaves a community broken, a family dismembered and a lives forever changed.

Rating:

Excerpt:

Chapter One

If murder were legal, there would be dozens of bodies left in Jennifer’s wake.

“Damn it,” she whispered, and heaved a sigh. She stared at the caravan of cars that inched forward and squeezed the steering wheel. They went on as far as the eye could see, hardly moving. She rested her elbow on the armrest and pushed taut fingers through her hair.

“Mom?”

Jennifer looked into the rearview mirror and both Emily and Hannah stared back.

“Yes?” Jennifer said with the most patient voice she could muster.

“You shouldn’t say words like that mommy,” Emily said.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t. I’m sorry.”

“Do you think we’re going to be late, is that why you’re mad?” Emily said.

The clock on the car radio read 4:00.

“I hope not,” Jennifer said, but deep down inside she didn’t think their tardiness was avoidable. She clamped her eyes shut and tried to ignore a deep pain that pulsed and hid tactfully behind her eyes.

“Are you not feeling well, mommy?” Hannah said.

“Mommy’s fine,” she said. “I am just worried that we are going to be late and that will make me and your daddy late for the event.”

“It’s okay,” Hannah said and looked out the side window. “You shouldn’t worry so much. Daddy is the star and they can’t do anything without him.”

Jennifer laughed. “I suppose you’re right.” She watched a car that rode the shoulder all the way to the next exit.

“Mommy, you should follow him,” Emily said, and pointed at the car that Jennifer watched. “He’s going fast!”

“I . . . ” Jennifer thought to protest the suggestion, but knew it was the only way. The risk of getting a ticket was worth the time she could save. She cut the wheel hard right and stepped on the gas. The powerful car raced up the shoulder and approached another long line of cars that led to a blinking traffic light. She pressed the brake pedal hard and stopped the car just short of the vehicle in front of her. The force of the abrupt halt pushed everyone forward in their seats and snapped them back.

“I’m sorry,” Jennifer said. “I didn’t mean to do that.”

“You don’t think daddy will leave without you, do you?” Hannah said, her eyes wide with the question.

Jennifer laughed. “No, I don’t suppose he would.”

The vehicles ahead of her managed to merge their way into traffic quicker than she anticipated.

“I know that because he loves you too much to do that,” Hannah said. “He tells you that all the time.”

“You are very smart,” Jennifer smiled.

She had tried to organize the events of this day in advance and believed she had given herself plenty of time to complete her tasks and ready the children before her husband arrived home. She had intended to have everyone ready for the evening’s event prior to the babysitter’s arrival. That way there would be no stress and the perfect tone would be set for the night.

“Something going perfectly, imagine that . . . ” she whispered and chuckled at the thought.

“Mommy, what did you say?” Emily said.

“Nothing, honey. I’m just talking to myself.”

Her day had started off with a routine checkup at the dentist’s office. From there she had gone directly to the woman’s health clinic because she hadn’t been feeling well the last few weeks and her appetite had grown substantially.

“I just knew it,” she said, and rubbed her belly.

She couldn’t wait to share the news with her husband, Rainer, but had already decided that she would wait until tomorrow to do that. This was his day and he deserved the attention without anything taking away from it. He worked hard and gave so much of himself to everyone.

Jennifer inched the car to the blinking light and she looked left and then to the right. A steady flow of cars came from both directions.

“Mommy?”

Jennifer looked in the rearview mirror. Emily had unbuckled her harness and had climbed out of her booster seat. She was standing between the driver and passenger seats.

“Emily!” Jennifer said, and quickly turned and faced her daughter. “Get back in your seat!”

“But mom!”

“Now!”

“But . . .”

“No buts, Emily. Do what I’m telling you to. Do it right now!”

Jennifer put the car in park and grabbed Emily by the arm and forced her into her seat.

“I’ve told you never to do this!”

“You hurt my arm!”

“It’s better than you going flying through the windshield! I told you getting out of your seat is dangerous and you can get hurt!”

Emily’s face reddened and her eyes welled with tears. Her bottom lip curled and her expression contorted into something horrible.

“You hurt me mom!”

“Why can’t you stay in your seat like your sister?”

Honk.

“Why?” Jennifer said, her frustration turning to anger.

Emily looked at her twin sister and she was buckled in her seat. She looked at her mother with a blank stare. She rubbed her arm.

“Do you want a policeman to come and take you away from me?”

Emily shook her head and began to pout. “Uncle Glenn wouldn’t do that to me.”

Jennifer glared at her daughter. “Don’t you dare talk back to your mother like that. I’ll take the television away from you for a week.”

“I don’t care!”

Jennifer swiped an open hand across Emily’s cheek.

A boiling wail erupted from Emily. Hannah looked at her sister and she started to cry. A chorus of shouts filled the vehicle and brought Jennifer’s headache to a whole new level.

“I’m telling daddy you hit me!”

“And I’m not going to tell you again. Don’t you dare get out of that seat!”

Jennifer buckled her in and sharply turned her attention to Hannah. “And you have nothing to be crying about.”

Jennifer faced forward and stomped the gas pedal and the car lurched into the middle of the intersection. In a moment of clarity, Jennifer noticed a bluish colored car that skidded towards her and she started to scream. It approached at a speed and angle that seemed impossible to avoid.

Author Recommendations:
I was immediately drawn into the characters in Keith Rommel's well written & absorbing book, "You Killed My Brother". Every act of friendship & brotherly love, evidence of family bond, courage, desperation, revenge & chaos, has created an emotional & exciting plot. The surprises just keep coming and this reader could not put it down! Well done, Keith, Well done.

~~Janet Van Mol

About the Author:

Keith Rommel is a native of Long Island, New York and currently lives with his family in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. Keith is a retail manager and has enjoyed collecting comic books since he was a child (a hobby inspired by a teacher in grade school to help overcome a reading comprehension disability). Keith Rommel is the author of the critically acclaimed dark suspense Thanatology Series entitled The Cursed Man and the Lurking Man. His newest novel: You Killed My Brother is a fast-paced suspense thriller with crime and some rather unorthodox police work. Keith has had several writer how-to articles published and has appeared on numerous radio shows and at many signing events. Keith is currently hard at work on the third novel in the Thanatology Series due out summer 2013.